CIA Uses Facebook To Gather Global Intelligence

The Central Intelligence Agency reads public posts on Facebook and Twitter as part of the effort to compile reports for President Barack Obama.

Data from social media channels has played a key role in predicting and analyzing events, such as the uprisings in Egypt and Libya, or gauging the mood of a region following the killing of Osama Bin Laden.

A team at the CIA’s Open Source Center in suburban Virginia, known as “vengeful librarians,” are analyzing communications on social media around the world, often times translating from the native language of a country.

However, a CIA spokeswoman insists that the team does not monitor Americans.

We appreciate the CIA’s intentions here, but wonder whether the average user of Facebook might jump to conclusions and worry that the agency is spying on Americans too.